SIR – Once again the debate about charging for plastic shopping bags rears its ugly head. We know how bad these bags are for the environment, and worse still for animal, fish and bird life.

Why not ban them completely? Let us resort to bygone practices where shoppers took their shopping baskets/bags with them when they went shopping.

Most people go shopping by car, so it isn’t rocket science to keep a few reuseable bags in the car, and one in a pocket at all times when going out, in the event that you may want to purchase something while out.

Why don’t we also stop all these charity bags which get pushed through our letter boxes at the rate of over 100 a year? 99 per cent of these end up in the bin as the collectors don’t collect empty bags.

Keith Rayner, Laburnum Drive, Baildon